Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weikath and drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. By the time Hansen quit Helloween in 1989 to form Gamma Ray, the band had evolved into a five-piece, with Michael Kiske taking over as lead vocalist. Schwichtenberg and Kiske both parted ways with Helloween in 1993; Schwichtenberg died two years later as the result of suicide. Between then and 2016, there had been numerous line-up changes, leaving Grosskopf and Weikath as the only remaining original members. As a septet, their current lineup includes four-fifths of the Keeper of the Seven Keys: Parts I and II-era (1987–1988) lineup, featuring three additional members, vocalist Andi Deris, guitarist Sascha Gerstner and drummer Daniel Löble.
Kai Michael Hansen is a German musician who is the founder, lead guitarist and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also one of the co-founders of metal band Helloween, which he rejoined in 2016. He is a prominent figure in power metal and has sold millions of albums worldwide. He is regarded as "the godfather of power metal", having founded two seminal bands in the genre. In 2011, he joined the band Unisonic featuring former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske. Hansen and Kiske reunited with Helloween in 2017 for a world tour with all current members, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of release of the albums Keeper of the Seven Keys Parts I and II.
Michael Kiske is a German singer and lead vocalist for the German power metal band Helloween. Kiske has released four solo albums, two albums with the hard rock band Unisonic, has participated on various metal and rock related projects, such as Avantasia, Place Vendome and Kiske/Somerville and has also performed with numerous bands as a guest vocalist.
Amanda Somerville is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands.
Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples.
Past in Different Ways is the fourth solo album of vocalist Michael Kiske. It features acoustic renditions of songs written by Kiske during his time in Helloween and one new track.
Place Vendome is a German melodic hard rock / AOR project, founded in 2004 at the direction of Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugino.
Place Vendome is the debut album of the hard rock project Place Vendome. The songwriting for this album was provided by Dennis Ward, with further contributions from David Readman and Alfred Koffler.
Streets of Fire is the second album of the hard rock project Place Vendome. The songwriting for this album was provided by Torsti Spoof (Leverage), Ronny Milianowicz, Robert Säll and Magnus Karlsson.
To the Metal! is the tenth full-length studio album by Gamma Ray. It was released on 29 January 2010. To promote the album, the band did a tour with Freedom Call and Secret Sphere. The album was recorded in Kai's own studio in Hamburg in autumn 2009. The band has recorded 12 songs. Ten of them were featured on the regular album release, while the other two were bonus tracks appearing on the different editions of the album. The band described some of the songs on the official website, revealing that there would be a full-throttle number called "Rise", a rhythmic and melodically diverse song called "Time To Live", and a multilayered anthem titled "All you need to know", featuring ex-Helloween frontman Michael Kiske. Other songs mentioned are "No Need to Cry", a song written by Dirk Schlächter about the death of his father, "To The Metal", a song they played on various festivals before the album release and the atmospheric and dense "Empathy". It is the last album featuring drummer Dan Zimmermann.
Kiske/Somerville is the debut album of the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration of vocalist Michael Kiske with American singer Amanda Somerville. The album was released on 24 September 2010 with cover art credited to Stanis W. Decker.
Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features vocalist Michael Kiske collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville.
Magnus Karlsson is a Swedish heavy metal songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is currently a session musician and songwriter of the band Primal Fear, as well as for other projects like his own Free Fall.
Unisonic was a German hard rock/power metal supergroup, founded on 10 November 2009 by Helloween singer Michael Kiske alongside Dennis Ward and Kosta Zafiriou from Pink Cream 69 and Mandy Meyer, formerly in Asia and Gotthard. In 2011 the band was joined by Gamma Ray leader and Helloween co-founder, Kai Hansen.
The Mystery of Time is the sixth full-length album by German Tobias Sammet's rock opera project Avantasia. The album was released on 26 April 2013. This is the first Avantasia release to feature the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. The cover artwork was painted by Rodney Matthews.
Kosta Zafiriou is a Swiss musician and music manager, one of the owners of Bottom Row Promotion company, which currently manages the bands Unisonic, Helloween, Axxis, Gotthard and Krokus. A former hard rock drummer, Zafiriou is known as one of the founding members of bands Pink Cream 69, Place Vendome and Unisonic.
The Land of New Hope is the first full-length album by Timo Tolkki's Finnish metal opera project Avalon. The album was released on May 17, 2013 in Europe and May 21, 2013 in the US.
City of Heroes is the second studio album by the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration between vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville. It was released on 17 April 2015 in Europe and on 21 April 2015 in North America.
Close to the Sun is the fourth album of the melodic hard rock project Place Vendome. The songwriting for this album was provided by Magnus Karlsson, Jani Liimatainen, Olaf Thörsen, Fabio Lione, Simone Mularoni (DGM), Alessandro Del Vecchio, Aldo Lonobile and Mike Palace (Palace).
Alessandro Del Vecchio is an Italian multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known for his collaborations with hard rock and heavy metal artists such as Jørn Lande, Revolution Saints, Hardline, Fergie Frederiksen, Ted Poley, Kelly Keeling and Mat Sinner, and for his work as the in-house producer for Neapolitan record label Frontiers Music SRL from his personal Ivorytears Music Works Studio located just north of Milan.
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